Another Man’s Ear: Reimagining Carver’s Soundscape in Robert Altman’s Short Cuts

Film adaptations should be judged on the basis of how well they uphold the “original” piece. Robert Altman’s film Short Cuts, an adaptation of several of Raymond Carver’s texts, is no exception. Numerous critics have debated whether the film is truly worthy of Carver’s legacy. The film’s soundscape is among the elements contested. Critics concerned with fidelity are quick to assert Altman’s sound deviations as failures, claiming the film is not recognizable as an echo of Carver’s texts, while critics more concerned with the film’s effectiveness than its fidelity to Carver’s texts argue that changes are necessary when shifting media. Avoiding value judgements of the film in the context of Carver’s texts, this presentation explores how sound in Altman and Carver differ and how we, as readers and listeners, experience both. Despite the fact that the film’s soundscape is different from Carver’s, Altman’s transmutation of sound continues to illustrate a central theme in Carver’s texts: the characters’ entrapments and futile attempts to escape their lives.